This invention relates to an apparatus for controlling the operation of a regenerative device to generate a quantity of heat so as to burn the exhaust particles collected in a trap located in the exhaust conduit of an internal combustion engine.
It has been proposed to purify exhaust gases from an automobile internal combustion engine by employing a trap located in the exhaust conduit of the engine to collect therein carbon or other particles of the exhaust gases. A regenerative burner is repetitively operated with having a constant supply of fuel to burn the particles collected in the trap so as to regenerate the trap each time a regeneration occurs. The regeneration requirement is determined by the pressure differential across the trap reaching a predetermined value or the pressure on the inlet side of the trap reaching a value determined in accordance with engine operating parameters.
With such a conventional trap regenerative burner control apparatus having no control of flow rate of fuel to the regenerative burner, however, it is impossible to maintain the inlet side of the trap at a temperature optimum to regenerate the trap in the most efficient manner as will be described in detail.
Therefore, the present invention provides a trap regenerative device control apparatus which can maintain the inlet of the trap at a desired temperature during trap regeneration.